‘Book people’ help fellow People of the Book

A library is more than a roomful of books. At Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center (PJTC), the library was an intergenerational hub. But on January 7, PJTC’s three buildings were destroyed by wildfires.

“When we started to revive our long dormant library last year, our first efforts were materials for the very youngest,” explained Betsy Kahn, a PJTC congregant and its volunteer librarian. “We had a collection from PJ Library and a beautiful program called Storytime Saba and Savta with elders reading to young children during religious school on Sundays. I was in the middle of cataloging that collection when the fire hit; it was destroyed along with everything else.”

After hearing about PJTC’s devastation, Chicago Jewish attorney Stephen Durchslag found a solution to the loss of its library. His friends of 50 years, the Falks, were downsizing from their home into a condo.

“They contacted me to see if I was interested in the collection of almost 1,000 Jewish books Jerry had acquired in his love of Jewish learning,” Durchslag explained. “It was the same time as the fire in Los Angeles destroyed the venerable PTJC synagogue. It seemed to me, and my partner Annette Turow, that it was ordained by providence that his collection should go to replenish the synagogue’s destroyed library.”

The Falks generously agreed. Hannah Johnston, a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was hired to catalogue this huge volume of volumes. “It’s special to be part of this unique collection, and to help a synagogue in need,” she said. “It’s a tribute to the man who spent his life collecting these books, to do something meaningful with them.”

That man is Jerry Falk. Professionally, he was an importer of high-end bathroom fixtures from Europe. Always passionate about Jewish knowledge, he audited college divinity classes after he retired.

“If someone is able to use the books, we’d be so grateful,” said Falk’s wife, Edith. “It means a lot for them to go to a good home, where someone can find meaning in them.”

Durchslag realized, however, that these books would only replace PJTC’s adult selections, not its beloved children’s books. So he ran a book collection drive to ensure the PJTC library remains welcoming for all ages. “The Talmud tell us it is our sacred duty to educate our young and support our brethren,” he said. ”I am so glad that Jerry and Edie have given us this opportunity to fulfill this mitzvah.”

Rabbi Jill Gold Wright, who has been PJTC’s Education Director for less than a year, lost her own rabbinic library in the blaze, but is also focused on getting books back into the hands of the congregation’s children. “Our children’s library was the one that was really thriving,” she noted. “The children’s books [we receive], we will be using right away.”

“We’re the People of the Book, and we’re lucky that ‘book people’ have us in mind,” Kahn said. “I know what kind of healing can be found in books, so I see this as medicine for our community. Not only the books themselves, but their spirit of generosity–that’s as important a thing for our kids to learn.”

To donate new or gently used children’s books to PJTC, contact Anshe Emet Synagogue’s Rabbis, D’ror Chankin-Gould and Benjy Forester, at ansheemet.org/welcome/clergy. To donate directly, contact Rabbi Jill Gold Wright at [email protected] .